


Know Thine Enemy

by Papillonae



Series: HWD Event: Her Kind (2018) [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Battle, Character Study, Dueling, Female Finland mention, Female Lithuania mention, Gen, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 20:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14269158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Papillonae/pseuds/Papillonae
Summary: In battle, it is important to gauge your opponent. But when you battle a centuries old nation such as Poland, you may not always know who it is you're fighting.Written for the Hetalia Writers Discord Female Characters Event, Day 1: Warriors.





	Know Thine Enemy

When one draws swords, it’s best to know against whom one may cross blades. Gauging the enemy is an important skill to learn in martial arts, and it’s often one of the most difficult things to learn. Of course, it’s not made any easier with mysterious opponents who hide their eyes or their chests.

When crossing swords with Poland, one never knew which side of her they would meet in battle.

Though she may be a shy maiden in polite conversation, it would surprise many to find how quickly she becomes charismatic (almost ostentatious!) with a blade in her hand. She revels in the flourish of her skills: she is quick and quiet on her feet, much like a dancer as she pin wheels her skirts about her in a casual duel. She fights with a sense of freedom, all laughter and ribbons and flower petals falling from the crown of her head as she doubles back through her opponents’ defenses again, and again, and again. All the while she will strike up a friendly conversation, even with the flush in her face and windedness on her voice.

Just as she is stubborn in her ways, and curious to a fault, Poland is equally as relentless in her offense – and even more so in impulsiveness. It seems as though her years in the Golden Unity had proven to temper her eagerness to show-off, though her wily grin in the heat of a duel would suggest otherwise.

One might seek out Lithuania’s experience as Poland’s closest confidante – she may tell of their first duel together, and even pass down a word of advice: should one ever cross swords with Poland, even in jest, _do not_ mock her interest in the sword. And if one should ask why, Lithuania will warn a second time, for good measure: Do not. Mock. Her interest. In the sword. 

In the milling of everyday life, Poland’s voice becomes like one among her people, but only when one hears the clashing of metal clear as a bell that one can hear it – her swordsong.

However, Poland sings a very different swordsong with the clamoring sound of hoof beats and the cries of men all around her. There is no longer a shy maiden standing where she is, but a woman ablaze with feathers from her hussar wings and dirtied, scraped knees. Her skirts no longer float at her ankles, but are instead tied around her loins as she charges in – her sword aiming not to entertain, but to _kill_.

There is a hardness and a heat in her glare as she strikes her enemies down with the same efficiency she uses in her dueling flourish. Her battle cry is very similar to that of her fellow men as she litters the battlefield with flower petals, bodies, and blood. It’s a strikingly gruesome detail that Finland had somehow overlooked in her memory, but Poland’s people know. And their enemies knew first-hand in the moments before she ran them through.

And still, Poland’s tenaciousness cuts deeper than any blade in her armory, even when she suffered defeat. She was torn asunder more times than any other nation dared to think about, stripped of her name and her voice and her _sword_. One can only imagine what the world was like when Poland returned to the maps, and what they all saw when she first took up her sword again after centuries of sleeping.

One might try to imagine it - the look in her eyes – but who would be staring back, I wonder?

The trickster? Or the warrior?


End file.
